BIA, Turkey
April 28 2006

Prosecutor Appeals Against Four Columnists

Bagcilar prosecutor’s office appeals against court decision dropping
charges for four prominent Turkish columnists for criticizing a
decision to ban 2005 Istanbul conference on Ottoman Armenians. Murat
Belge to be tried on June 8 under separate indictment

BIA News Center
28/04/2006 Erol ONDEROGLU

BÝA (Istanbul) – Istanbul’s Bagcilar district prosecutor’s office has
appealed against an April 11 court verdict dismissing a high-profile
controversial case against four prominent Turkish columnists who were
charged with attempting to influence the outcome of a trial though
their writings by criticising a court order halting a September 2005
Istanbul conference on Ottoman Armenians.

The court decided then that according to article 26 of the Press Law,
charges against the four were subject to statue of limitation due to
the time lapse between the date of alleged offence and when a case
was launched.

While it ruled to drop the charges against them, the court decided to
continue the trial of Radikal newspaper columnist and writer Murat
Belge as the only defendant in a new trial, concluding that the
statue of limitation did not apply to his case.

This week, the Bagcilar prosecutor’s office took the verdict for
journalists Hasan Cemal of the daily Milliyet and Haluk Sahin, Erol
Katircioglu and Ismet Berkan of the daily Radikal to the Court of
Appeals asking it to be overruled.

Belge himself is to stand trial under a separate indictment on June
8.

The four defendants were charged in December under Article 288 of the
Turkish Penal Code with “attempting to influence the outcome of a
fair trial” through their writing. All except Berkan also faced
prosecution under Article 301 for “publicly degrading the judiciary”.

If the trial had not been dismissed and they were convicted, all of
the defendants could have faced prison terms of six months to 10
years under the charges.

Belge Trial Details

Journalist Murat Belge’s hearing at the Bagcilar 2nd Court of First
Istance will be held on June 8, at 10.30 local time. Belge is being
charged with violating articles 288 and 301/2 of the Turkish Penal
Code.

He is geld responsible for a September 24, 2005 article titled “The
murder of law” and the October 15, 2005 dated commentary titled “A
Court Decision. ” While the first article was subject to statue of
limitations, the Bagcilar court had decided that he should stand
trial for the second one. (EO/II/YE)